| There are many Orange County Public Schools | | | | students have the right to reading instruction that |
| systems throughout the nation. There are Orange | | | | enables them to meet high standards -A |
| Counties in Virginia, North Carolina, California, and | | | | Comprehensive Reading Program includes these six |
| Florida to name a few. Issues and challenges may | | | | elements: (1) Phonemic and phonological awareness |
| vary from Orange County Schools to Orange County | | | | (2) Systematic phonics (3) Vocabulary and |
| Schools, but the basic drive is the same - to give | | | | background knowledge (4) Fluency (5) |
| students the best quality education possible. Orange | | | | Comprehension (6) Motivation -Necessary criteria for |
| County Schools in Orlando are no exception. School | | | | increasing reading achievement: (1) Minimum of 90 |
| choice, as mandated by the United States Court of | | | | minutes of protected time for reading instruction to |
| Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, is present throughout | | | | close the gap (2) Smaller class sizes for intervention |
| these Orange County Schools. Improvements in | | | | (15 to 20 students per class) to individualize and |
| reading education and reading fluency are also hot | | | | adjust instruction for all students (3) Technology in |
| topics. It may be hard to believe that a school district | | | | classrooms to create a scope and sequence of |
| could raise the reading scores of struggling students | | | | individualized instruction for all students (4) |
| by as much as two grade levels each year, but | | | | Commitment, by administrators, to learning about |
| Orange County Schools are doing just that. The most | | | | reading process instruction and what it looks like in a |
| challenging group of students to bring up to grade | | | | successful classroom (5) Continual professional |
| level are students in middle and upper grades. These | | | | development for intervention program teachers In |
| Orange County Schools students are a lot less | | | | accordance with a 1970 court order enacted by the |
| motivated, and have even lost a lot of their trust in | | | | United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, |
| the learning process, believing they are too dumb to | | | | Orange County Schools offers its students and |
| learn. Many educators have come to realize that it's | | | | parents many avenues of school choice. They are: |
| going to take extreme measures to change such | | | | Majority to Minority Transfers No Child Left Behind |
| these students' lives. Interventions are required at all | | | | Opportunity Scholarship Exceptional Education |
| levels - from the superintendent's office on down to | | | | Program Placement McKay Scholarship Transfer |
| the humble classroom. One Orange County Schools | | | | Academic Transfer Childcare Transfer Graduation |
| intervention that has been put into place - with | | | | Transfer Magnet Transfer Medical Transfer Mid-Year |
| amazing results - is the Orange County Literacy | | | | Transfer Psychological Transfer School Personnel |
| Project. In addition, a recent report was solicited by | | | | Transfer Sibling Transfer Work-Related Transfer For |
| Orange County Schools from the Phyllis C. Hunter | | | | more information on the requirements to make any |
| Consulting Firm. The firm recently presented an | | | | of these types of transfers, visit the Orange County |
| evaluation of the Orange County Schools, and how | | | | Schools district website. |
| the district can best improve its reading instruction. | | | | Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, |
| The report, entitled "Reading Leadership in a | | | | providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and |
| Standards-based Reform", covered numerous | | | | private K-12 schools. |
| aspects that need to be addressed. Among them: -All | | | | |